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Dance Dance Revolution is a music video game series produced by Konami. The game is typically played on a dance pad with four arrow panels: left, right, up, and down. Additional gameplay modes may utilize two four-panel pads side-by-side (doubles mode), or a single six-panel pad with additional arrows corresponding to the upper diagonals (solo mode).

The core gameplay of Dance Dance Revolution involves the player moving his or her feet to a set pattern, stepping in time to the general rhythm or beat of a song. During normal gameplay, arrows scroll upwards from the bottom of the screen and pass over stationary, transparent arrows near the top (referred to as the “guide arrows” or “receptors”).

When the scrolling arrows overlap the stationary ones, the player must step on the corresponding arrows on the dance dance revolution platform. Longer green and yellow arrows referred to as “freeze arrows” must be held down for their entire length for them to count. Successfully hitting the arrows in time with the music fills the “Dance Gauge”, or life bar, while failure to do so drains it. If the Dance Gauge is fully depleted during gameplay, the player fails the song, usually resulting in a game over. Otherwise, the player is taken to the Results Screen, which rates the player’s performance with a letter grade and a numerical score, among other statistics. The player may then be given a chance to play again, depending on the settings of the particular dance dance revolution machine (the limit is usually 3-5 songs per game).

Dance Dance Revolution has been released in many forms, including on PC and on various video game consoles such as PlayStation, Nintendo GameCube, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii. Home versions for dance dance revolution are commonly bundled with soft plastic dance pads that are similar in appearance and function to the Nintendo Power Pad. Some third-party manufacturers produce hard metal pads at a higher price.

Dance dance revolution has even reached Nintendo Game Boy Color, with five versions of Dance Dance Revolution GB released in Japan; these included a series of three mainstream Dance Dance Revolution games, a Disney Mix, and an Oha Sta! mix. The games come with a small thumb pad that fits over the Game Boy Color’s controls to simulate the dance pad.